Raiden Youkai no Noroi: Zasshu
by ChaosMage89
Summary: She was a Noroi, a child born with tainted blood. Botan wishes to protect this girl, and sends Kurama and Hiei to find her, but at the same time, Koenma's after her head for murdering thousands of youkai. WILL NOT BE FINISHED HOC
1. Chapter One

"The Noroi's here!" "She's come for us!"

The teenage demon walked towards the screaming masses, accompanied by an inu youkai clothed entirely in black. A maniacal grin was plastered on her face as she stalked towards the crowds, as though she was having the time of her life, as though she _enjoyed _the terror she was instilling. She came upon the village leader, who cowered in front of her on his knees, attempting to appeal to her sympathy.

"Stop! We'll give you anything, just spare us, please!"

"You do realize that you brought this upon yourselves?" The grin disappeared, replaced by a morose stare that was equally frightening. "There's no use trying to bribeme with 'anything,' becauseI know why you have 'anything' at all."

"_Please_-!"

A blue-white light surrounded the girl, engulfing the entire village.

When the dust settled all that stood were the three lone figures in the middle of a once bustling village. The smallest fell, and was caught in the arms of the inu youkai, who picked her up and carried her of into the forest, trailed by the other shadow.

* * *

_**TWO WEEKS LATER** _

"Hiei! Hiei, please, listen to me! _HIEI_!"

"Will you leave me alone!"

"Only if you hear me out!"

"Hiei, just listen to what she has to say."

"Alright!"

Hiei jumped down from the tree to join Kurama and Botan, who had been chasing him down on the Ferry Girl's oar for the past few miles. "Make it quick."

"I need you to find someone for me," she said in a hurry before he ran out of any sliver of patience the Koorime had, "a girl, a demon girl named Rai. Hiei, please, I need your help!"

Desperation. Fear. Anxiety. Botan reeked of these. For a brief instant, Hiei allowed pity to rule him and listened to her plea.

"Sixteen years ago I went to guide the soul of a rai youkai who begged me to rescue her child from the same fate. I did, and I left her with a woman living in Tokyo. That woman, Eri...she dieda fewmonths ago, and the child- Rai, I mean- disappeared-"

"And you want Kurama and I to find her so you can hide the fact that you went against the laws of Reikai and intervened to stop another's death," he finished for her.

"No! I...I want to protect her! I've protected her all her life and now I can't because I don't know where she is!" Botan was in tears by now. "You didn't see it! You don't know what they were going to do to her!"

"Tell me why I should do this for you."

Botan, though she had anticipated this question, had no incentive lined up. "Can we talk about that later? After you find her?" Hiei didn't say a word, but Kurama lightly touched her shoulder and asked, "Did you already make a breech in the barrier for us?"

"Hai," she answered, wiping her eyes on her kimono sleeves. "If you come with me I can take you to it."

With Kurama and Botan on the latter's oar and Hiei close behind, she lead them to the building where Yuusuke and Kuwabara had gone through on the first mission the four of them had gone on together. Botan didn't even have to look for the breech this time- she simply crossed over to the farthest corner of the basement and pried off a tile, revealing a gaping whole filled with greenish smoke. "Here," she said, handing them each a communicator. "Contact me if you need anything. This should land you right outside of the city. The nearest raiden youkai village is about a day from there." She sniffed and turned away from them to hide the tears that were again brimming in her lavender eyes. Kurama threw her a sympathetic glance before jumping into the vortex, and after a moment's hesitation, Hiei went in after him.

* * *

"As you can see, this girl is manic, almost bordering on psychotic. It is imperative that you bring her in before she does some real damage," Koenma's voice told them as they watched the village obliterate on Kuwabara's television. 

"Damn. I'm almost afraid to go after her," Kuwabara muttered.

"I'm not. We've kicked the crap out of worse."

"Do we have a test in English tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Well, no better time than now to go, I guess."

* * *

Somewhere in the Makai, a small, dark-haired teen being carried to bed by her older brother watched through her window as two star-like spheres of energy appeared in the sky and dipped below the trees. She silently made a wish before sleep mercifully overtook her.

* * *

A revision. 

ChaosMage


	2. Chapter Two

Botan had said that the village was a day's walk from the abandoned City. A sad miscalculation on her part, Kurama thought, struggling to keep up with Hiei as they scaled the large mountain they had come upon an hour earlier. At this rate it would take them three days, and Kurama wasn't entirely sure that even Hiei could go on that long without rest. Yet with no shelter in sight, it seemed as if that was what they had to do. It would be extremely unwise to camp out in the open in the Makai. The Demon Realm's forests weren't like those of Ningenkai, where all you had to worry about was ensuring that the fire was put out, what to do if it rained, and the occasional lunatic. There was that and so much more. In these woods, even the trees themselves were alive.

It was growing dark when they reached the summit. A thick, acrid scent hung in the air, which Kurama immediately identified as sulfur. And sulfur could mean hot springs. And hot springs meant people, namely the people who owned the springs and probably owned a house. And, if these people were hospitable enough, that house could mean shelter.

Kurama was just about to voice this train of logic when a scream cut through the cold air.

* * *

It was a darkness tinged with red, a dark red stain, she thought as her blue hair spread out over the pool of her own blood. Some strange filter had muffled Rai's outcries, and the pain she had felt only seconds before was gone. It took a moment for the thought to reach her, but when it did, it hit harder than the blow she had taken to the head. She was dying, leaving Rai absolutely defenseless. It had been a cruel joke, she knew, pushing the young lightning demon into the water like that, but it had been in harmless merriment. Now if Rai tried to use her ki against their attacker, she would kill herself in the process as well. Midori had failed her. 

Rai did the only thing she could think of. Hauling the taller girl into a grove of bushes and hiding her as best she could under the circumstances, she took off in a sprint, weighted down by her sopping clothes. The crashing trees only told her that her assailant was still following, still hunting her down. Another throat-searing scream escaped as she pitched forward, the ground rushing towards her with astonishing speed, unsure of anything but her pain. The Hunter had thrown his axe at her, and it had embedded itself right between her shoulder blades.

She heard the Hunter breath heavily behind his mask as he approached her, his heavy boots making the dried leaves cry out as the weight ripped them. No finesse, this one... then again, he hadn't needed it to bring down a mizu youkai and her young companion. With a sickening squelch, he pulled his weapon out of Rai's back and- this infuriated her most of all- proceeded to wipe her blood off on her clothing. _'Ichiro...'_

Why hadn't her brother come? Why hadn't he saved her from this beast? She knew how selfish she was to think this, but she couldn't help it when the Hunter cut her yet again with his sword. Why?

The last thing she saw was a black blur before she succumbed to her own blood-stained nightmare.

* * *

"Mee...dor...ee..." the girl had murmured as Hiei sheathed his sword. Odd...she seemed to be a youkai, but she dressed in ningen clothing and spoke with a Tokyo accent. Using the tear made by the axe, he ripped off the rest of her shirt, leaving her only in her bra and pants. Luckily for her, the Hunter had missed his intended target- her spine was still intact. She would live if Hiei could stop the bleeding. 

Wadding the cloth into a ball, he proceeded to hold the shirt against her wound, taking care not to place too much pressure on it. They were immediately incarnadined, and in some places the fabric was so threadbare that the blood seeped through and continued along its course. Hiei himself almost wanted to cry out for help. He was almost certain she was a demon, but how much and what kind were carefully concealed in a labyrinth that even he was hesitant to travel through. If he was wrong- Enma forbid- and she was a human, any youki he could give would kill her. The same result would occur if she was a hanyou or if her youki was incompatible with his own. What little optimism he had had was gone. The girl was going to die.

Hiei's ears picked up the faint sound of rustling fabric as he turned his head to see the intruder. Not left, not right, his mind registered as he looked around. Not behind him, nor in front of him. That left only one last direction.

Crimson eyes flew toward the sky the instant the pale, ghostly demon dropped from the tree above, burdened by the weight of the blue-haired woman on his back.

"What are you doing?" the stranger's icy voice lashed out. Before Hiei could respond, the stranger shook his head and said, "Never mind that. Put her down." He gently placed the woman on the ground and reached for the black bandolier that crossed his chest. Approaching Hiei, who had still not followed the unknown demon's order, he pulled out a small vial filled to the brim with a blue, mucilaginous substance from one of the pouches. "Please," he sighed at the Koorime's defiance, "I need to get this on her wound before the blood begins to clot. It won't work otherwise." Reluctantly Hiei handed her over, not sure whether or not he could trust the black-clothed youkai.

Instead of watching the youkai administer the gel to the rip in the girl's back, Hiei instead looked to her face. She wasn't beautiful by any means- her complexion was colorless and her eyes seemed to be too large for her face- but still entrancing in her own way. Small, subtle lines around her eyes suggested that she was one who had seen more than she wanted to in her short life. Maybe she was like himself, cynical and jaded. Maybe she had retained her innocence, though it was unlikely.

Suddenly, Hiei's Jagan exploded with pain as images rapidly sped across his mind. A man with white hair killing a sleeping woman. A faceless crowd of youkai bearing torches, screaming at an innocent newborn. Another woman, this one older, murdered in her own bed and the killer himself slayed by a phantom only an instant later. Indescribable pain filled him, and he shouted as he fell to the ground.

Eyes. Clear, gray, emotionless eyes. That was the last thing he saw before everything whirled away into dust.

_"You didn't see it! You don't know what they were going to do to her!"_

* * *

Yes, lots of fainting, and if Hiei was OOC, I apologize. Keeping people in character has never been one of my strong points, but I swear I'm trying. 

I'm so tired...But I do want to take the time to thank my reviewers...

**Blair E. Buhler**: Thank you so much. I didn't think anyone would notice my absence, but apparently at least one person did.

**xkuroxshinobix**: Yes, I did write this fic once before, but this one is completely revised- even the plot has changed subtly. But I think people will like it better this time around; my lack of reviews, however, seems to be proving me wrong...thank you for yours, by the way.

And, while I'm at it, I might as well put in a translation for all the Japanese I've used:

**Noroi**: Curse  
**Inu**: Dog  
**Youkai**: Demon  
**Koorime**: Ice Sprout, the type of demon Hiei and Yukina's mother was  
**Rai**: Lightning  
**Hanyou**: Half-demon  
**Reikai**: Spirit Realm  
**Makai**: Demon Realm  
**Ningenkai**: Human Realm  
**Ki**: Energy  
**Mizu**: Water  
**Ningen**: Human  
**Youki**: Demon Energy  
**Jagan**: Evil Eye

And I also apologize for taking all that time to put out such a short chapter.

I think that's it...

Ja ne-

CM


	3. Chapter Three

"Will he be all right?" Hiei heard dimly through the haze of sleep, and immediately wished that the voice were silenced as his head throbbed with pain.

"He should be. Don't worry, it happened to me the first few times I was around her myself." The sound of a shoji clattering reached Hiei's ears, and the voice was a bit clearer. "If you excuse me, I must attend to my sisters."

"Hai. Arigato gozaimasu, Ichiro-san." The voice then directed itself towards Hiei. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," the little youkai sullenly replied, not willing to admit that his head felt like it was being ripped in two. He sat up and felt around for the white band usually wrapped around his forehead and found that someone had pulled it down around his neck. Replacing it, he got up from the small cot on the floor to look at his surroundings.

It was a traditional Japanese style room, sparsely decorated and dimly lit. Hiei barely made out Kurama's form in the dusk. The acrid scent was even stronger here- they must have found the owners of the hot springs.

"Ichiro-san informed me that we are permitted to stay here until we find Rai. The village Botan told us about is on the other side of this mountain." Closer than they had thought, but still farther than Botan's estimate. Kurama eyed his companion closely before opening his mouth to state the question that had plagued his mind since their arrival. "Why did you save her?"

Hiei simply gazed at the opposite wall of the room, avoiding the kitsune's eyes. He, too, had wondered at his rash decision. Why _had_ he done something for a complete and total stranger? He couldn't remember what he had been thinking at the time, only her unanswered cries for help.

Kurama, sensing Hiei's reluctance to answer, quickly changed the subject. "This is an onsen ryokan for youkai. If you're feeling up to it later, there's a kashikiri I've been told we can use." With that, Kurama turned and left, closing the shoji behind him and leaving Hiei to his own thoughts.

What had happened in those last few moments of consciousness? Those visions, what were they? The girl's memories, he knew, but then how had she been able to force them into his mind? It was impossible for her to have done such a thing unless...unless...

Hiei groaned inwardly and laid back down, his head pounding. This was too much to swallow at the moment. The next time he saw the girl, he'd have his answers. Not that he would search her out on his own, of course; he didn't find her _that_ interesting. But their paths would undoubtedly cross during their stay here, and whether she wanted him to or not, he'd find out what he needed.

* * *

"Rai-chan...Rai, please wake up," Midori sobbed, burying her face into her thin hands. This was all her fault. She had been the one to push Rai into the bath they were preparing for a guest- who had unfortunately been sent away- knowing full well of her friend's vulnerability to water. But she hadn't suspected, even for an instant, that someone would dare trespass upon her older brother's territory. And Rai...she'd been smiling, even playful for that moment, and they'd ended up making a game of splashing each other, paying no heed to anything around them. But now they had paid for that flash of frivolity, possibly even with Rai's life. 

"Midori." The young woman turned around sharply to see her brother standing in the doorway.

"Ichiro...Oniisan, I'm so sorry."

"Please don't dwell on it, Omouto. It won't help anyone." He sighed and knelt beside his sisters.

"The Hunter...you killed him, right?"

"No," the youkai sighed heavily. "Another youkai did...his name is Hiei. I can't quite reason why, but he saved Rai, not me."

Midori turned and stared at Ichiro. "This Hiei, he's not the one who was in service of Enma, is he?" Ichiro hesitated and nodded slowly. "B-but what if he's looking for Rai?"

"They are."

"_They!_"

"Kurama is with him. I'm having them stay here."

"What? But why?" Midori cried, her voice distorted by her harsh whisper.

"It will be easier to make sure that they don't find her if we keep them close to us. They're leaving as soon as Hiei-san recovers, anyway," he reassured her.

"Was he hurt?"

"Yes, but not by the Hunter." Ichiro cast a glance towards his unconscious sister. "Apparently Rai can force her memories into his mind as well, through his own Jagan." His black-gloved hand went up to his own forehead, remembering all too well the pain he had experienced when he had first met Rai. "I don't know how this will affect our chances of her going undiscovered..." Hiei might try to find out more, and Ichiro wanted no male youkai getting close to his youngest sister, especially not one who was most likely hell-bent on dragging her back to Reikai. Rai was...delicate, if one were to use the word lightly. Of course, wiping out several villages worth of youkai would make one consider her powerful, but that power ran solely on her emotions, her hatred and contempt for those who had destroyed the life she could have led. But she was unstable, going through a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. '_Bipolar'_, Ichiro thought, '_isn't that what humans called it_?' Her physical health itself was also extremely fragile, and Hiei aside, she didn't need the stress of any sort of relationship with a male.

"Oniisan, where were you?" Midori asked.

Ichiro avoided his sister's gaze and instead stared at the ground. "I...I'll tell you later. In private."

" Will Rai-chan wake up?" she whispered. 

Ichiro nodded. "She just needs to sleep for now. If everything goes well, she'll be ready." He reached over and pushed a lock of black hair away from Rai's forehead. Midori hadn't noticed the similarities between her brother and his sister until now, as she looked upon both of their exhausted faces. Both were pale, thin creatures, with gray eyes and small, fragile features that stole away what dazzling beauty they could have possessed but instead graced them with an ethereal aura which few could appreciate. Now, however, their white skin was gaunt and darkened with fatigue. Midori figured she was in the same condition. Ever since Rai had entered their lives, the once-peaceful onsen had become a center of a revolution, a prophecy that they had no control over. The gods gave them no choice in the matter. 

* * *

If they had to describe the village they had been sent to, their choice of words may have ranged from _primitive_ to _destitute _to downright _filthy_. The women and men toiled endlessly in dusty fields unyielding of anything remotely edible while their young children ran amok, completely naked. The older children faired no better as they scurried around attempting to round up the toddlers, dressed in little more than threadbare potato sacks resembling the ones the adults wore. Had they known how far that the once-proud citizens had fallen, they would have felt nothing but pity. The only evidence that the village had been anything more was the eerie remains of a castle visible in the distance. 

Urameshi Yusuke and Kuwabara Kazuma stood on the road that lead into the desolate cluster of huts wondering what information they could possibly uncover here. There had to be a reason for Koenma to send them here first, but why? Yusuke sighed heavily at his luck, or rather, the lack thereof. He finally had a Saturday off and the last thing he wanted to do was question hicks about some terrorist youkai girl that they probably had no idea even existed. But Kuwabara began to stride towards the first hut determinedly, leaving Yusuke no choice but to follow.

The taller boy knocked politely on the door while his sullen companion, hands jammed deep in his pockets, nearly kicked it in. "Would you stop?" Kuwabara hissed. "We need to get answers from these people and you're gonna scare 'em off." Yusuke glared at him and opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the opening of the door.

"Waddaya want?" a voice demanded, and they both looked to the threshold. A boy, who looked to be about ten or so, glowered at them through two close-set golden eyes, as if the detectives had interrupted something direly important. His hair stuck up in small black tufts, snot ran from his nose and his dark skin was red where the scratchy fabric of his clothing had chaffed him. "Well?" he directed again, swatting away a stray fly.

"We, uh..." Kuwabara started, caught off guard by the blatant disrespect from a kid seven years his junior. A blood vessel in Yusuke's temple began to throb and his hands curled themselves into fists. Normally the both of them would teach brats like this one a lesson but they were under direct order not to harm a single one of the raiden youkai. The only two exceptions would be if they were attacked first, or if the youkai happened to be Rai. "Do you know anything about a lighting demon named Rai?"

"No. She live here a long time ago er sum'in'? 'Cuz if she did, Bruxa and Strega migh' know 'er."

"Take us to them," Yusuke commanded.

"Gimme sum'in' and I might."

Something inside Yusuke snapped. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the fact that instead of the relaxing weekend he had anticipated he was out in some backward hick-town in the Makai interviewing bratty raiden youkai. Maybe it was the simple fact that his patience was already thin from the crap he had to put up with at home. But he refused to take verbal abuse from a ten-year-old. Picking up the small, underfed child by his shirt, snarling, "You will take us to them _now_."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara began to protest as the bravado faded from the little rai youkai's face.

"Anschlag! Alaric!" a feminine voice behind them called out. Yusuke and Kuwabara both turned to look as a young woman came running up to them, motioning wildly for Yusuke to release the boy.

"Hexe! Helfen Sie mir!" the boy cried to the woman.

"Dämonen! Put my brother down!" the woman said as she drew closer. A terrifying snarl took residence on her visage, twisting and distorting her features. Slowly and gently, Yusuke lowered the youkai to the ground, and the child immediately took refuge behind his sister's legs. "What the _hell _do you think you were doing?" she screamed at the two teenage boys.

Before Yusuke could even open his mouth to argue with her, the boy tugged at his sister's skirt and said hesitantly, "Hexe... Es war meine Störung."

"Was?" The girl and her brother began to exchange words rapidly, none of which Kuwabara nor Yusuke could understand, ending with the boy saying, "Ich entschuldige mich, Schwester."

"Don't apologize to me! Say it to them." The boy muttered and complained, but did as his sister told him before dashing back into the hut.

"Hello," the woman said, "I am Hexe, and the little boy is my brother, Alaric. Please forgive our rudeness."

"'S okay," Kuwabara and Yusuke muttered back. Up close, one could tell that Hexe was different from the rest of the villagers. She kept herself clean, and everything from her brown skin to the simple linen dress she wore gleamed in the sun. The only things that betrayed her heritage as a demon were the three talon-like scars that traced their way across her face, and the claws on her hands. Her eyes, like her Alaric's, were golden, but far more honest looking than her brother's were.

"My brother said that you wished to see Bruxa and Strega, korrekt?" They nodded. "Then follow me.

* * *

On the outskirts of the village, in a small, one-room cottage filled with smoke, two women sat side by side, each caught up in their own meditation. Only one sentence broke the silence: "Bruxa...stanno venendo." 

'_Eu v os também, Strega... eu v os também..._'

* * *

I've translated the words that I thought you might need to know to understand the plot. Those that were obvious through context clues (as well as the last two sentences for literary purposes) I have left untranslated: 

**Shoji**- In traditional Japanese homes, a sliding door made of rice paper and wood.  
**Hai**- Yes  
**Arigato gozaimasu**- Thank you  
**Kitsune**- Fox  
**Onsen ryokan**- Hot spring hotel  
**Kashikiri**- Private bath. Many onsen are open baths for anyone to use, but there are some closed ones for those who wish to bathe alone.  
**-chan**- An affectionate ending used for girls (of course, it's more complicated than this, but I won't go into that much detail)  
**Oniisan**- Older brother  
**Omouto**- Little sister. Throughout Zasshu, you'll see Ichiro refer to Midori, the elder sister, as omouto and Rai as imouto. The 'o' in the beginning simply shows respect, but this doesn't necessarily mean that Ichiro respects Midori more than he does Rai- it's simply an easy way to differentiate who he's speaking to.  
**Saturday off**- Not so much a word as it is a little reference to the fact that Japanese middle school and high school students attend classes six days a week. I can barely stand five...  
**Bruxa, Strega and Hexe**- Portuguese, Italian and German for witch, respectively  
**Anschlag**- German for stop  
**Helfen Sie mir**- Also German, means 'help me'.  
**Dämonen**- Even more German, 'demon'.  
**Es war meine Störung**- The fight was my fault.

AN: I wanted to clear this up right now rather than try and find some way to explain it in the story itself- Rai and Midori are in no way related. They are both Ichiro's half-sisters, but Midori shares a mother with him while Rai shares a father instead. Not all that difficult to comprehend.

While I remember to say this, I encourage you all to ask questions about what's going on. Another flaw I have as a writer is assuming that the readers know what I do (which you don't), which tends to make my writing erratic and confusing, and I'd like to fix that.

I also promised to do character sketches for my OCs for a friend of mine. In this chapter I'll do Ichiro, Midori and Rai. Eventually I plan to put up short ones for Hexe, Alaric, Bruxa and Strega.

I think that's all...

Ja ne!

ChaosMage

**NAME**: Ichiro (Name meaning- First son)  
**AGE**: 28  
**SPECIES**: Dog demon (Inu youkai)  
**GENDER**: Male  
**PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION**:  
_Hair Color_: White  
_Eye Color_: Grey  
_Other_: Pale skin, slender, tall  
**PERSONALITY/OTHER**: Stoic and aloof, Ichiro runs an onsen resort with the mind of a businessman. Though respectful and hospitable to everyone, the only two people he has ever shown true kindness to are his sisters, Midori and Rai. He was quite attached to his father when he was young and still seems shaken by his death, refusing to hear any mention of it.

**NAME**: Midori (Name meaning- Green)  
**AGE**: 18  
**SPECIES**: Water/Dog Demon (Mizu/Inu youkai)  
**GENDER**: Female  
**PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION**:  
_Hair Color_: Blue  
_Eye Color_: Green  
_Other_: Tall, lithe, yet powerfully built  
**PERSONALITY/OTHER**: Midori is the polar opposite of Ichiro, magnanimous to a fault. It was her idea to convert Ichiro's parent's vast estate into an onsen, and she herself works as a hostess for it. Midori was also the one who convinced her older brother to take in Rai, and although the events that have passed since the young girl's arrival have disturbed her, Midori (or Mii-chan, as Rai calls her) still loves the lightning demon with all of her heart. True to her own father's legacy, Midori is a hydromancer, a water magician who specializes in illusion, as you will see later on.

**NAME**: Inoue Shinrai/Rai (Name meaning: Inoue Shinrai is the name she was known by in Ningenkai)  
**AGE**: 16  
**SPECIES**: Lightning/Dog Demon (Rai/Inu youkai)  
**GENDER**: Female  
**PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION**:  
_Hair Color_: Black  
_Eye Color_: Gray  
_Other_:Extremely pale, skinny (unhealthy), and short compared to her brother  
**PERSONALITY/OTHER**: Before her foster mother's death, Rai had no memory of her past. After the horrific events that led her to her brother's home in the Makai, she began showing symptoms of bipolar disorder with traces of schizophrenia. A rather disturbed individual, Rai is nevertheless, still a person, and is by nature a silent observer, thinking herself to be unfit for social interaction. She's very lonely most of the time, and for this reason clings to her brother in an almost obsessive way, seeing him as her only connection to a world outside of her delusions.


	4. Chapter Four

Even if they had been given a thousand years, neither would have been able to guess the ages of the two witches sitting before them.

"Ciao, Strega. Boa tarde, Bruxa," Hexe said, bowing to the two women. Strega had a classic Roman look about her, with black hair and brown eyes that seemed to look straight into one's soul. Bruxa on the other hand, was lighter and possessed softly curling light brown locks which framed black-green eyes. Neither bore a wrinkle on her skin or any gray strands in their thick tresses. It was their stare that gave away their ancient knowledge, gazes that reached right back to the beginning of time itself.

Strega motioned for Yusuke to come forward, and soft hands came up to caress his face. After about a moment she stopped, looked to Hexe and said, "Diciassette. Ragazzo. Giapponese, probabilmente."

"She says she thinks you're a seventeen-year-old Japanese boy. Is she right?" Yusuke nodded, but didn't understand why Hexe's face lit up with such amazement. Sensing this, Hexe's eyes dropped and she murmured, "Look at her eyes, Urameshi. She's blind."

To his astonishment, Hexe was right. How, then, had she...? Was it possible for a blind woman to do that? "It simply goes to show how long they have lived," whispered Hexe. "I do not care if you use your foul tongue with me, Urameshi, but you will respect them. Even if they cannot speak your language, they do know when they are being insulted."

Yusuke sullenly sat back on his heels. "Just ask her the damn question."

She glared at him. "Ciò è Yusuke Urameshi e Kazuma Kuwabara. Stanno cercando le notizie di una ragazza del demon chiamata Rai." she addressed Strega.

"No. Arashi in primo luogo."

Hexe looked at her, confused. "No, Strega, stanno chiedendo notizie su Rai."

"Desidero dire loro la storia del Arashi in primo luogo," Strega answered, shaking her head.

Turning towards Yusuke and Kuwabara, Hexe translated for them. "She says you need to hear about someone named Arashi first. I don't know why, but this seems to be important to her."

Bruxa and Strega relayed the story, pausing from time to time to allow Hexe to render their words into Japanese. Bruxa started.

"When I was a young woman, just barely of marrying age, there was a great fire throughout my town. Everything was burned to the ground. I barely escaped alive myself, and awoke to find that I was in a world quite unlike my own. This very village, though then a great and radiant city, took me in, despite the initial hatred of humans. Even a witch such as myself suffered a harrowing time of prejudice." She fell silent here, waiting for Strega to pick up where she had left off.

"I came to this place under similar circumstances. It was not a fire, however, but the Plague that came upon my home. My parents told me to run and I did, for if any survivors remained they would have blamed me for bringing the illness upon them. I fell off of my horse and hit my head; when I woke up, I, too, was here. They took me in and allowed me to live with Bruxa. But no demon would come near us."

"Strange. In the realm of humans we were shunned as demon spawn; the youkai here shun us because we were the children of humans."

"Finally one of them gathered the courage to come to our home."

Bruxa smiled fondly. "Yes, the little one."

"Arashi was a charming young storm demon. Almost too charming for her own good." Strega sniffed, and the others watched as tears slipped from her blind eyes. "Arashi left the day she turned two hundred years old. Immediately, it seemed, the city fell into decay. One by one the awe-inspiring buildings fell. One by one the citizens left. When Arashi ran away, she took our good fortune with her."

"We hoped for the best...yet we feared the worst." Bruxa inhaled a haggard breath before continuing, her quiet words barely heard over Strega's soft whimpers. "Only sixteen years ago we received word that she had been executed as a traitor. Apparently she was the first woman in nearly a century to bear a Noroi."

Here Hexe interjected with her own explanation. "A Noroi is the term that raiden youkai give to those that are half storm demon and half dog demon. They actually hate all those with mixed blood, but a Noroi is prophesied to be the one to destroy the raiden youkai." Strega spoke, and after a moment Hexe translated, "The parents are executed in a hellish ceremony that's supposed to free everyone of their sin."

"What happens, exactly?" Yusuke asked.

"I can tell you that one on my own," Hexe said. "First, the inu youkai is hypnotized-

"I thought you couldn't do that to demons," Kuwabara interrupted.

"Not by the way humans do it. But just think, brain waves and thought...it's essentially electricity, and that's the raiden youkais' forte. All they have to do it harness that and they have control of your thoughts. They use it and make the dog kill the raiden youkai he or she mated with. The other demon then relinquishes their control, so the youkai wakes up sometime in the middle to find their lover dying by their own hand. The inu is then is forced to watch his or her child tortured to death and is psychologically tormented so that their minds believe that this is their fault, that they are the ones who brought this upon themselves.

"Dog demons and storm demons are different from other apparitions. They mate for love rather than necessity. To go through something like that...and to see the product of one's love slowly murdered in that matter...it's enough to kill a youkai from sorrow. Most of the time the inu youkai is left in the same room that their family died in to waste away with those agonizing visions playing in front of their eyes until they finally allow themselves to die."

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You seem to know an awful lot about this," he accused.

Hexe looked up at him with a deadpan face and said in monotone. "I witnessed it once. I never want to see something like it ever again."

* * *

"The city where Arashi died is about a week's worth of traveling," Hexe told them as they left the witch's hut. "So you have two choices. You can either go out on your own-" 

"We'd planned to do that all along," Yusuke interrupted bluntly. "Let's go Kuwabara."

"-with no directions, no idea where you're going and no protection whatsoever."

"Kuwabara, _let's go_!" He turned to walk away from Hexe.

"At least listen to what she has to say first," Kuwabara countered, refusing to leave. Yusuke gritted his teeth in annoyance, stopped, but refused to turn around. In the past three years, Kuwabara had become infuriatingly stubborn, and unlike Yusuke, who hadn't grown up a bit since middle school, Kazuma had matured a great deal. Sometimes it led to situations like this, and right now Yusuke wanted nothing more than to get away from the tawny-eyed German woman.

"There's a caravan coming this way tomorrow, and it'll pass through the city. Alaric and I were going to go with them, and I'm sure they won't mind a couple extra freeloaders. You'll be able to eat without worrying whether or not your meal is contaminated, and even if it's not that comfortable, it's better than sleeping out on the ground." " She smiled at Kuwabara and ignored the scowl Yusuke threw back at her. "I think you should go with us."

"Well...why are you going with them?"

"I want to go home. To Ningenkai." She sighed and shook her head as Kuwabara tried to voice another query. "But my intentions don't matter. What _does _matter is that you two get to your destination safely. For the good of your mission, I mean." She looked to Yusuke and said with a small smile, "The caravan's cargo is usually quite valuable. They may pay you a bit to help protect it."

Yusuke turned to her and asked, "When does it come?"

Hexe's smile widened and she answered, "Tomorrow morning. The two of you may stay with me and my brother tonight if you wish."

* * *

'First, the inu youkai is hypnotized... They use it and make the dog kill the raiden youkai he or she mated with.' 

_Senshi rushed at Arashi with astonishing speed, driving his clawed hand through the stomach that until recently had held his child. Arashi screamed, unbelieving until the last minute that he would do this, thinking that he would be able to fight it._

'The other demon then relinquishes their control, so the youkai wakes up sometime in the middle to find their lover dying by their own hand.'

_The cloud around the inu youkai's eyes disappeared, throwing the woman's bloody image to him in sharp perspective. "Arashi!" But it was pointless. The macabre scene played out before him in all its disgusting vividness as the rai youkai coughed up blood just before taking her final breath, and she slumped over his outstretched arm, dead. _

'The inu is then is forced to watch his or her child tortured to death and is psychologically tormented so that their minds believe that this is their fault, that they are the ones who brought this upon themselves.'

_If you had never gone near her..._

_If you had never spoken to her..._

_If you had never defiled her with your poisonous touch..._

_  
Arashi would have lived._

_The chorus of voiced chanted this to him, and Senshi couldn't help but agree. He had known the penalty; why had he dared to anticipate a life with Arashi and their baby? It was his fault...it was his entire fault. He blacked out, unable to take the stress. He never saw his daughter snatched from thin air, never knew that she had been saved._

'Most of the time the inu youkai is left in the same room that their family died in to waste away with those agonizing visions playing in front of their eyes until they finally allow themselves to die.'

"_Are we actually supposed to touch this thing?" one man asked, disgusted at the thought of even coming near the dead body._

"_They told us to get rid of it, but they didn't say how."_

"_What about the garbage pit?"_

"_Nah. It'll stink up the whole town. Let's just fry it."_

"_Sure." The first man sneered, then kicked the corpse on the ground before spitting on it. "So ends the great and noble Senshi," he proclaimed caustically. Both demons reluctantly placed a hand on the sickeningly beautiful cadaver and winced in abhorrence. A moment later the body exploded into hundreds of charred pieces._

Rai woke up from the dream, letting out a frightening wail that quickly turned into a series of bone-wracking, unfettered sobs. Someone stumbled into her room and grabbed her by her shoulders; she clutched at the person, uncaring of who they were. He didn't attempt to wrest himself from her grip, but neither did he attempt to calm her. It would have been useless anyway. She wasn't just crying- at this point she was keening, and nothing would pacify her until she consoled herself.

* * *

"Hexe, that hurts!" Alaric yelled as his sister continued to scrub his back furiously in an attempt to clear it of mud. "Hexe!" 

"It's not my fault that you're an idiot. What in God's name possessed you to do something so stupid anyway?"

"Shut up!"

Kuwabara and Yusuke sat at the table wordlessly, listening to Hexe attempt to give the dirt-encrusted boy a bath, something Alaric apparently didn't take too well. Though their tub was nothing more than a basin of heated water hidden behind a screen, the woman was hell-bent on making sure that the boy was presentable, and when he had turned up in their home covered head to toe in filth, she had just about had a hernia.

Their arguments quickly switched to German, and the only thing that could be discerned was the regular curse of "Zicke!" that came from Alaric's mouth, which often earned him a slap from his sister.

"What do you think that means?" Kuwabara asked, breaking the silence.

"Dunno," was Yusuke's answer, which he followed with a question of his own, "Why did she want us to come with her so badly?"

"Maybe she was just worried, like she said."

"I don't think so. Desperate seems more the word. Why would someone who's never even met us want to help?" He remembered the witches' eyes that had reached so far into the past. Was it possible that they could reach in the other direction as well, and had they sent Hexe to do their bidding?

It finally ended with Alaric's exclamation of, "Das geht dich einen feuchten Scheissdreck an!" when Hexe calmed down and switched back to Japanese.

"It _is _my business when you come home looking like that- and late, I might add." She went to one of the baskets that lined the hut's flimsy walls and began to rummage. "Now go sit down, I'm cutting your hair."

* * *

**Zicke**- the German equivalent of bitch 

**Das geht dich einen feuchten Scheissdreck an**- None of your fucking business!


	5. Chapter Five

_Damn her!_

_Damn her to hell!_

If the girl's grip had been iron before, then what would one call this?

Hiei sat there, unmoving, glaring at the young woman who held him with such ferocity. There was no way out; she had not only his cape in her clenched fists, but the shirt underneath as well. If he wanted out badly enough, he could simply remove both of them, but that would most likely lead to a plethora of awkward questions, particularly from the silver inu youkai.

Not that _this _situation was any better. How could she have fallen in such a heavy slumber mere moments after such a horrifying nightmare?

He sighed, leaned back on his elbows, and looked down his nose at the sleeping girl. Her night-black hair clung to her back and arms with static, leading down to the middle of her forearms. Uneven bangs trimmed her face, curving downward from the middle until they were almost half the length of the rest of the rest of her hair. Even at their shortest, the locks of hair reached down to the bridge of her nose and fluttered with each breath she took.

The rest of her body was arranged in a rather uncomfortable fashion. She had been lying on her left side when she had woken up, facing the wall. When Hiei had come in, she had twisted around; her lower body had remained the same way as before, while her torso had become hopelessly entangled in the sheets. Her head now rested on Hiei's chest, with her arms and hands were pinned to his upper body by her own weight. Hiei himself sat on the side of her bed opposite the wall, and had spun around to face her. His own legs hung over the side; his back was beginning to ache.

Tentatively, he reached out and began to smooth out the hair that held fast to her skin, ignoring the small shocks that erupted at random moments. How long this went on was something he was never entirely sure of, but when he had smoothed out the last strand, her brow became knitted and a small moan escaped the back of her throat. Her fingers tightened quickly and then relaxed. Finally, her hands slipped away from Hiei long enough for him to slide out from under her. He placed her back on the bed and covered her up again, ignoring the strange feeling that came over him. What was it called...nostalgia? But why? He'd never spoken to her at all, never even heard her name. Other than the strange mental attack she had forced on him, they had no connection whatsoever. But even with these reasons, the same question pulsed in his mind like a mantra: Why?

His query was cut short by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall and Hiei hastily took his escape through the window.

* * *

_"We cannot, under any circumstances, allow your friend near the village."_

Ichiro had explained this fact quite briefly, and had left Kurama alone to deliver the message.

How to go about this? Informing him that the citizens would kill him simply because he was a half-breed would only offend the Koorime's pride. Taking it a step further and telling him that, even if he did manage to make it through the mob of murderous youkai, there was no telling how many innocents would be killed in the process might make a dent, but it wasn't certain. The worst possible course of action would be to flat out demand him to stay at the onsen, after which Hiei would undoubtedly take off on his own and decimate the entire village once he got there.

Kurama couldn't help but smile at the predictability of Hiei's actions, though they weren't exactly working in his favor.

"May I suggest," a soft voice said behind him, "that you say nothing at all?"

He rotated and saw Ichiro's blue-haired, green-eyed younger sister glancing at him curiously from the doorway. What was her name again? Midori? "I-I'm sorry, it's just that...I overheard your conversation with Oniisan earlier, and...Well, your friend doesn't strike me as the type to allow something like this to carry on without him."

Was Hiei truly that transparent, or was this woman simply perceptive? "No, he's not. But I don't like lying to him, either."

"You don't understand," she replied, shaking her head while her gentle face contorted into a slight snarl. "You either lie to him, or he dies. The leaders of the raiden youkai are beyond brutal. They'll murder infants for the simple reason that their parents are of two different races. Hiei-san is the Forbidden Child, and everyone knows it."

"Then may I ask a question?" Midori nodded as she knelt to put on her zori. "Why is your brother letting you go?" It was glaringly obvious that Midori herself was a zasshu, not only from her ki, but because of the vehement way she had spoken just before.

She sat on the platform next to him and sighed. "You see that puddle of water over there?" she asked, pointing to the miniature ocean that had gathered under the trees and refused to dry up. "Watch."

Slowly, so slowly that he almost missed it, the water began to ripple and lift from the ground. It lethargically began to dance in the air, like some sort of aqueous serpent, and gently made its way to Midori's outstretched arm as her finger directed it in its strange, calming waltz. It abruptly changed tempo and whirled at a rapid pace around the young woman's arm. Suddenly, there was no water and the pale, slender arm had become blue, the fingers webbed and a long, fin-like appendage appeared on the side and ran up to her elbow.

Midori smiled shakily at Kurama's amazement. "If I do this to my entire body, I can pass off as a full-blood mizu youkai."

"I didn't think any of your kind were left."

"There aren't, at least none that I know of. I'm one of the last in this area, anyway." She flung her arm to the side, expelling the water and reverting it to its former appearance. "There's only me and my father, I think."

Rising to her feet again, she looked down at Kurama and said, "I don't want him to come," referring to Hiei. "This stretches far beyond your ability to comprehend. No matter how strong he is, he's no match for those barbarians."

"What do you mean?" How huge was this plot that he and Hiei had stumbled upon? Where did the fear in the water demon's gaze come from?

"I'm not at liberty to say. We're leaving tomorrow at dawn, so please be ready." She stepped off the porch and left the befuddled kitsune without a backward glance.

* * *

The young boy hung limp in Yusuke's hold, resigned to his fate. His sister- his own flesh and blood, Hexe- continued to hack away, seemingly unaware of Alaric's pain. No one cared as the sea of black pooled before his eyes, nor did they pay mind to the soft whimpers escaping his mouth; his tears were regarded as foolish. 

"Will you stop being such a baby? I'm only cutting your hair, for gods' sake!"

* * *

**-san**- An honorific, equivalent to Mister, Mrs., or Miss in English. 

**Zori**- Straw sandals

**Zasshu**- Hybrid

**Hydromancy**- An extremely advanced form of ki manipulation able to be used only by those who posses the gene for it. While most water demons can handle water to form it into attacks, hydromancers can change the makeup of the liquid's atoms to benefit their use- those who are extremely powerful can make water run uphill if they wish. Midori utilizes hers for illusion.


	6. Omake: Side Stories

**One: Responsibilities**

If Eri recalled correctly, there had been nothing in her agreement with the Spirit World brat to raise some infant one of his Ferry Girls just _happened_ to come across. She was nineteen years old, single, and _definitely_ not emotionally prepared to be a mother. That didn't matter to Koenma, apparently, because there it was, in the bassinet across the room, screaming until Eri was sure its tiny lungs were ready to burst.

Yes, Eri was still referring to the baby as _it_. She knew it was a girl, of course, but it wasn't a question of her knowledge of it. She just didn't give a damn.

"Couldn't even stop to tell me its name..." Eri muttered, rolling out of bed. "It could've at least been a boy, but _noooo_, they _had_ to give me something that's gonna go bitchy and hormonal on me in twelve years." She clutched the afghan she had been using as a blanket around her shoulders as she crossed to the thing that had dared to interrupt her sleep. "It's two o' clock in the fucking morning, what could you _possibly _need!" she demanded angrily.

It came to her only an instant later that it might have been a bad idea to raise her voice like that, because it decided to retaliate. _Loudly_.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she yelled over its cries. "Just calm down!" Gingerly, she dropped the afghan and slid her arms under the baby's tiny body, remembering at the last minute to support its head before lifting it. "Please calm down, I don't know any lullabies, and I don't have anything to feed you until I get paid tomorrow, and no diapers either, if you're wondering about that, too," Eri heard her panicked voice whisper. She gently began to rock it back and forth, mostly to soothe herself, but it seemed to help the baby as well.

What the hell was she supposed to do? She knew next to nothing about raising kids, and had no mother to call and beg for advice. There was no way she could live with this thing longer than one week, let alone for twenty years. It was going to drive her to an early grave, that was for sure.

But she had no choice.

Slowly its wail quieted, and finally it fell asleep. Eri relaxed, laid it back in the cradle, and sighed with relief. "You know...when you're not annoying the hell out of me, you're actually kind of cute," Eri admitted to it almost begrudgingly, running her hand through the baby's soft sable hair. "And you'll need a name, too. But I don't know any girl's names that I like." She thought for a moment. "Well...even if I do suck as a mother, you're going to have to trust me anyway...Shinrai." Pausing for a moment, she stroked the baby's hair affectionately before picking up the afghan and returning to bed.

"And gods help you if you wake up again before seven!"

* * *

**Two: Gaijin**

"Kaasan?" she said tentatively as she sat down across from Eri.

"Yes?"

"What's a gaijin?"

Eri passed her a plate of food, not yet finding cause for suspicion in the question. "Someone who's not from Japan. Why?"

Her only answer was Shinrai's uneasy glance.

"Did something happen today, Shin-chan?"

"Am I a gaijin?" the ten-year-old asked just as Eri lifted a glass of water to her lips, which she promptly choked on.

"Wha- What ever gave you that idea?" Eri gasped, her hand held against her throat as she continued to cough.

"The others at school, they said that I have to be a gaijin because I didn't look like them. Because of my eyes."

"That's the most idiotic thing I ever heard! When did all this start?"

"Four years ago, I think. Maybe five."

"F-five _years_!" Eri sputtered. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"It never really mattered until now."

"And why not?"

"That doesn't matter either." Eri was almost positive that she saw tears spring into Shinrai's eyes.

"It was a boy, wasn't it?"

Shinrai nodded. She had endured the taunts for years now, but hearing them come from the mouth of the boy she adored above all the others had hurt worse than she could imagine. _'Why don't you just go back to where you came from?' _he had said, a condescending sneer adorning his angelic face.

Problem was, there was no "where she came from" to go back to in the first place.

Eri knew better than to belittle it as 'the cute little crush' and preach about how things like this wouldn't matter when she was older. She herself was still young enough to remember the pangs of unrequited love that made that period of one's life a nightmare.

"Could you...could you answer my question?" Shinrai asked.

"Which one?"

"Am I a gaijin?"

Eri leaned back in her chair and heaved a sigh. "Honestly, Shin-chan? I don't know. There's a really good chance that you could be, or at you're at least half of something else. The woman who gave you to me didn't say. But even if you are, that doesn't give anyone a reason to make fun of you for it." She silently cursed at herself. Saying that no one had a reason didn't mean that it would stop.

"May I be excused?"

"Sure."

It didn't escape Eri's notice that Shinrai had not eaten anything.

* * *

**Three: Hohoemi**

She had never seen such a quiet thirteen-year-old. Most of them were motor-mouthed, boy-crazed airheads, Eri knew from experience. But Shinrai could go months without uttering a word aside from the _pleases_, _thank yous_, and _goodbye, have a nice day, I love you too_ that were to be expected of a daughter, because that's what she was- Eri's daughter. Shinrai didn't care much for the story of how Eri had gotten her, and she ignored the fact that it was impossible for the young woman to have had her. She was Eri's, and no one else's.

Not that Eri would have been able to answer any questions about Shinrai's parents even if she had asked. She just didn't know about them, nor did she have the means to find out. However, she often wondered what the teenager's parents were like, how they must've looked to have such a mournful-looking child. Shinrai was pretty, no doubt, but it was difficult even for Eri to look into her large gray eyes for any period of time. There was no other way to describe them; they looked dead.

"Ne, Shin-chan, can't you smile for me?"

Shinrai obliged, but the smile didn't extend past her lips.

Eri often worried that this was her fault, and agonized about what she may have done to the girl to make her like this. Shinrai attempted to reassure her, but it never worked.

"_It has nothing to do with you. I just don't like people to know how I'm feeling."_

She tried hard not to press further than that, but wanted to know why, when normal people had no problem expressing emotion, did Shinrai have such a difficult time?

"_I don't like people. They don't need to know about me."_

"What about me, Shin-chan? Do you like me?"

"_Of course, Okaasan. I love you."_

_Then please smile for me._

One more half-hearted smile was all Eri ever got.

* * *

**Four: Birthdays**

"Hey, you never told me what you wanted for your birthday."

"I did. I said I didn't need anything."

"That doesn't answer my question. You didn't tell me what you _want_."

"I'm fine."

"I didn't ask how you were."

"Okaasan, really, you don't have to give me a gift."

"Shin-cha-an," Eri whined, dragging out the last syllable as she came up behind Shinrai and hugged her around the shoulders. "You're sucking all the fun out of this!"

"I am not!" The teen looked warily at the people glancing at her and Eri, some snickering at the childish behavior that the older woman was presenting. "You shouldn't be acting like this in public!"

"K-yo-za-me!" Eri began to chant in a singsong voice. Shinrai's face didn't go red; it never did, she was far too dignified for that. But Eri could feel her bristle at the all-too-familiar taunt.

"I am not a killjoy!"

"Then prove it. C'mon, if you don't, I'll get you something I know you don't want and guilt you into keeping it." Shinrai had no doubt that she would. Eri had done it before, and Shinrai now had a collection of cute, glittery, ostentatious Hello Kitty shirts to prove it.

"A sketchbook." Something simple, something she could use. These two factors caused the suggestion to be shot down immediately.

"Too boring. Pick something expensive." Thankfully, however, Shinrai's feigned interest in the conversation caused Eri to release her shoulders and continue walking down the street. The teen followed.

"But I want a sketchbook."

"I'll get you one," Eri said, waving her hand as if to shoo the idea away, "but pick something else for a birthday gift."

"Like what?"

"Like clothes or something that you don't normally let me get for you. You need them, you know." She did know. Even if Shinrai hadn't grown any taller, she could still tell that her shirts were getting rather tight. This, coupled with the fact that they were child's outfits that she had had since grade school further proved Eri's point. "What about something from Moi-même-Moitié? You like those clothes, right?"

"Yes," Shinrai admitted. Eri smiled. Maybe there were some similarities between her ward and "normal" girls; hopefully this was as far as it went.

"EGL or EGA?"

"Aristocrat. And nothing too big, please. Just a blouse would do."

"Alright, I'll leave you alone now."

"Promise?"

"No."

* * *

**Five: Nanashi**

Inoue Shinrai, she traced in the dirt. Inoue was easy enough. Shinrai was much harder, not just because of the intricate kanji, but because of the voice that cut through her head every time she saw it.

_Shin-chan..._

She used her fingers to erase her work. Her heart couldn't bear to hear the nickname that the dead woman had given her anymore.

So she'd have to make a new name.

Smoothing the soil, she searched her head for something that she could recognize without being confused, but something that had no relation to Shinrai.

If she got rid of the part that hurt her, the part Eri always used, she'd be left with "Rai," a name with a totally different meaning, a different tone. That would work.

She took the twig back into her hand and wrote, carefully, 'Arashi no Rai.' Her _real _mother's name coupled with her own, as was the custom in these parts.

It still looked wrong.

Tears welled up in her gray eyes and slipped out, hitting the ground and marring her new identity. She couldn't help it. Arashi conjured up no feelings of affection, no fond memories, not one drop of pain. She couldn't mourn for the mother she never knew when she was drowning in misery for want of the one she did.

Her sobs caught the attention of the white-haired inu youkai she had recently come to know as Oniisan. He excused himself from the guests who he had been entertaining, and came over to sit beside her, his hand resting on her back as she continued to cry, hiccuping at random intervals. His eyes drifted to the name on the ground.

"Rai?" Her head, which had been resting on the knees she that held close her chest, lifted a centimeter or two. She refused to meet his gaze. "Is that what you want me to call you? Not Shinrai?" Her head nodded minutely.

"I don't want that name anymore," her muffled response came. "It's a boy's name anyway. At least Rai can be either."

"I know it hurts, Imoutochan. It still hurts me." He saw her flinch, as if she just recalled that he had lost both of his parents, and had been old enough to remember them. "I won't lie. It's always going to hurt, but it will dull over time. Just don't shut out everyone around you because of it." Ichiro paused a moment before rising and returning to his neglected guests.

She called out to him, so quietly that he first had thought that he'd been mistaken. "Oniisan?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

He smiled, and replied, "You're welcome...Rai-chan."

* * *

This is just a series of little side stories meant to illustrate the relationship Rai had with her foster mother, and to tell why she doesn't use her Ningenkai name anymore. 

_Translations & Cultural Notes For **Responsibilities  
**_No real notes here, except that Eri is under the impression that Botan dumped Rai with her because Koenma told her to. She isn't aware that that isn't the case.

_Translations & Cultural Notes For **Gaijin  
**_**Kaasan**- Mother  
**Gaijin**- Foreigner. You've heard me describe Rai before; she doesn't sound Japanese at all. And, yeah, she can be made fun of for that just the same as a Japanese person can be made fun of at a foreign school.

Zasshu discusses the problems arising from prejudice and persecution, two things Rai's been exposed to all her life. This was meant to illustrate the events that made Rai the way she is (i.e. mistrusting, defensive, melancholy), and the last line will play a somewhat significant part in the main story. As for her not knowing what a gaijin is at ten years old...we'll just say that she's lived a sheltered existence.

_Translations & Cultural Notes For **Hohoemi  
**_**Hohoemi**- Smile  
**Okaasan**- Mother

_Translations & Cultural Notes For **Birthdays  
**_**Kyozame**- I left a large hint in there for you guys, but if you didn't get it, 'kyozame' means 'killjoy.' I used the Japanese word for it because it seemed easier to imagine Eri singing something with an ending she could draw out rather than one that she couldn't (there is a technical term for this that I learned in choir, but I've forgotten it).

**Moi-même-Moitiè** is a fashion label created by Mana, the guitarist and leader of Moi dix Mois (and previously of Malice Mizer). When Eri asks, "EGL or EGA?" she's asking if Rai prefers Elegant Gothic Lolita or Elegant Gothic Aristocrat, two designs Moi-même-Moitié offers. EGL imitates the look of Victorian porcelain dolls; EGA's image "is founded on elegance and aristocratic nobility." This isn't a very practical fashion, which is why Rai asks for only a blouse- it's something she that could get away with wearing every day. If you want to look at these yourself, cdjapan sells them here: www . cdjapan . co . jp / jpop / essentials / mmm (get rid of the spaces). I'll warn you now: EGA is based heavily on androgyny. If the idea of men's corsets freak you out, _don't go_. And don't bitch at me either. I'm not forcing you to look at the site, let alone buy anything.

This actually has a purpose- these four lines of dialogue should tell you more about Rai's character than you've known throughout the whole story.

(Side note: Moi-même-Moitiè means 'my other half' in French)

(Another side note: Gothic lolita, EGL and EGA are _nothing_ like the goth in the US. Just thought I'd clarify)

_Translations & Cultural Notes For **Nanashi  
**_**Nanashi**- One without a name or identity.

**_Names  
_Inoue **(井上)- Above the well. Seventeenth most common Japanese surname.  
**Shinrai **(信頼)**-** Trust, confidence. I'm assuming this is a boy's name, but I'm not entirely sure. Even if it is, I don't care.  
**Rai **(羅為)- Made of thin silk.  
**Arashi no Rai **(嵐の羅為)- Rai of Arashi, or Arashi's Rai. A naming system I made up for this fic where the full name of the character is comprised of the person's name preceded by that of the parent of the same gender. Therefore, Ichiro would be _Senshi no Ichiro _(戦士の一郎) and Midori would be _Aoi no Midori _(青いの緑).In Japan, surnames are given before the given name, or what we know as first names. I tend to follow this because it is the culture of my characters as well as the ones created by Togashi-san. This is also why I use suffixes such as –san or –chan. Rarely if ever are Japanese names heard without these; it connotes an intimacy that most of my characters do not have with one another.

**A/N  
**I know that this is taking up a lot of room...but this last part is something you need to know. I will no longer be updating this fic until I have it completed. Once I'm finished, I'll post it in it's entirety- that could be in a few months or a couple years, depending on my drive. It has nothing to do with you guys. I simply think that the story will be better and there will be fewer plot holes if I try and do this all at once rather than chapter by chapter.

CM


	7. CANCEL

I realize author's notes are against the rules here on but I don't really have a choice. Hopefully it will be overlooked.

I will not be continuing this fic. Between school and work, I could never find the time to write. Now I'm in college, and now any time I may have had has gone out the window.

Not only do I not have time, but I have no motivation to write this anymore. I don't like what I've written so far; it's OOC and there's too many plot holes that, quite frankly, I don't want to even begin to fill.

I apologize to anyone who has read this and waited for more. I may or may not write up a summary of where this story was supposed to go, as well as post the final chapter I've held onto for almost four years now, depending on whether or not anyone wants me to.

Thank you for staying with me this long,  
CM


End file.
